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IGP Calls for Regional Collaboration Among Police in West Africa to Tackle Insecurity in the Subregion

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IGP Calls for Regional Collaboration Among Police in West Africa to Tackle Insecurity in the Subregion

By: Michael Mike

The Inspector-General of Police, Kayode Egbetokun, has called on West African police chiefs to collaborate and devise innovative ways to tackle emerging complex security challenges facing the subregion.
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Egbetokun made this call at a meeting of the West African Police Chiefs Committee (WAPCCO) technical sub-committee on training and operations in Abuja.

He decried that the West African subregion had in recent times been confronted with complex national security challenges, which had been accentuating transnational crimes.

He said: “The activities of these cybercriminals has imposed on us all the additional burden of developing our national security capacity to dominate cyberspace and deny criminals the liberty to operate in our overriding national and regional security interests.

“The differences in legal frameworks and legislative systems continue to hinder effective law enforcement operations and criminal justice delivery initiatives among member states.

“Our security reality continually deepens the need to commit to regional collaboration, towards dissecting the pattern and trend of crimes on the one hand, and towards pulling together and supporting each other in bridging our national security gaps,” he said.

He noted that these challenges have been posing significant threats to the national security order of member states, as well as regional peace and social economic profile.

Egbetokun enumerated the crimes to include traditional crimes of stealing, cross border robberies, human goods, drugs trafficking, small arms and light weapons smuggling, banditry, terrorism. as well as actions of non-state actors.

The police boss further said that cybercrime and cyber-enabled crimes were now emerging as bigger challenges to the subregion’s security.

He said that a critical hindrance to effective regional law enforcement operations and criminal justice delivery initiatives was the differences in legal frameworks and legislative systems among member states, noting that: “The situation calls for a collective review of the multivarious legal framework and regulatory law enforcement and criminal justice delivery system.”

“It also calls for a stronger operational partnership that will encourage the evolution of workable protocol that will engender stronger operational integration amongst security forces and border management agencies within the sub region,” Egbetokun said.

Also speaking at the occasion, the ECOWAS Commissioner for Political Affairs, Peace and Security, Amb. Abdel-Fatah Musah, said that the fast evolution of information technology had further sophisticated the platforms and tactics used by criminal networks against targets.

Musah who was represented by, the Permanent Secretary, WAPCCO,
Dr Abdourahmane Dieng, said that crime and criminality continued to pose a big threat to lives and property in the subregion, thereby creating an unconditional environment for meaningful development.

He said that security and law enforcement agents in the region had for so many years focused on territorial, aerial and maritime borders as key points for close surveillance against crime.

“However, with the dynamic availability and capacity of cyberspace, which transcends beyond geographical borders, criminality has become more efficient, faster and safer for criminals to execute.

“Therefore, our mandate is to increase our capacity on the fight against transnational border crime of all forms which include employing training and operational strategies.

“The illicit traffic and proliferation of small arms and light weapons, human smuggling activities, armed robbery, illicit migration, child trafficking and labor, kidnapping, abduction, maritime piracy are but a few of the main highlights trending in our region,” Musah said.

He, therefore, urged the participants to share, inform, exchange and discuss issues and activities surrounding training and operations in their respective member states with a view to coming up with joint strategies on security personnel’s training and operations.

The Director, Interpol Regional Bureau, Abidjan, Ivory Coast, Paule Ouedrago, said the transnational dimension of the crimes required collaboration between countries, adding that the Regional Office would support the efforts through international police cooperation.

She called for the strengthening of collaboration between the Permanent Secretariat of the Committee of Police Chiefs and her office in the organization and implementation of police training and operations.

“This is how, together, we will succeed in dismantling and disrupting the criminal networks that undermine the tireless development efforts,”Ouedrago added.

IGP Calls for Regional Collaboration Among Police in West Africa to Tackle Insecurity in the Subregion

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Tipper truck kills several traders in Jalingo market crash

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Tipper truck kills several traders in Jalingo market crash

By: Zagazola Makama

A tragic road accident occurred on Saturday at the popular Mile 6 Market in Jalingo, Taraba State, when a tipper truck loaded with shaft sand lost control and rammed into a crowd of traders and shoppers.

Zagazola learnt the incident, which happened around midday, resulted in multiple fatalities and left several others injured. The exact number of casualties is yet to be confirmed as emergency responders continue rescue operations and assessment of the scene.

Sourcessaid the truck was speeding when one of its front tyres suddenly burst, causing the driver to lose control. The vehicle veered into the busy market area, knocking down people and structures along its path.

“It happened so fast,” said Musa Ibrahim, a local vendor. “The truck was on speed and after the tyre burst, the driver couldn’t control it. It just rammed into the crowd.”

Security operatives and medical personnel arrived swiftly at the scene to evacuate the injured to nearby hospitals. The body of the deceased has also been recovered, while efforts are ongoing to identify victims and notify their families.

The driver of the truck has been apprehended and is currently in custody as investigations continue into the cause of the crash.
End

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Former Footballer, 4 Others Arrested, Over 22.6kg Cocaine, Meth Seized at Lagos, Enugu Airports

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Former Footballer, 4 Others Arrested, Over 22.6kg Cocaine, Meth Seized at Lagos, Enugu Airports
…72-year-old Grandma, Beninese, Ithers Nabbed in NDLEA Raids in Delta, Kwara, Lagos

By: Michael Mike

Operatives of the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) have arrested a former football player Segun George Hunkarin along with his businessman partner Ntoruka Chinedu over attempt to smuggle a consignment of cocaine into Nigeria through the Murtala Muhammed International Airport, Lagos.

According to a statement on Sunday by the spokesman of the NDLEA, Femi Babafemi, Chinedu who is a frequent flyer known for conveying clothes from Turkey to Nigeria and foodstuffs from Nigeria to Turkey, was the first to be arrested upon his arrival at the Lagos airport last Tuesday, when his carry-on bag was searched, 37 wraps of cocaine weighing 800 grammes were seen to be concealed therein.

Babafemi said investigation showed that the suspect was coming from Turkey on Ethiopian Airlines flight but transited through Addis Ababa, Ethiopia where he collected the luggage from another person before heading to Nigeria.

He said further checks revealed that an accomplice who turned out to be the former professional footballer, Segun Hunkarin, was waiting for Chinedu at the airport carpark to collect the consignment from him. Hunkarin who had stayed years in Brazil playing for football clubs was promptly tracked and arrested at the carpark.

In his statement, Hunkarin was said to have claimed that while playing professional football in the South American country, he had only trafficked drugs twice from Brazil to Ethiopia but has never brought any to Nigeria.

Another Europe based businessman Amen Okoro was last Friday arrested by NDLEA operatives at the Lagos airport while attempting to traffic 5,000 pills of tramadol 225mg packaged as known malaria drugs such as Lonart, Amatem and Aluktem to Spain.

He was intercepted at the departure hall of terminal 2 of the airport during the outward clearance of passengers on Royal Air Maroc flight to Spain through Casablanca.

Babafemi said Okoro, who is into freight and logistics business between Europe and Nigeria, claimed that on his arrival in Spain, he would have taken a train to France where he resides and from there send the tramadol consignment to Italy for retailing.

At the Akanu Ibiam International Airport (AIIA) Enugu, Babafemi said NDLEA operatives last Friday intercepted a Maputo, Mozambique based bar attendant Ezenwaka Chibuzor. A search of his luggage led to the discovery of 17 cardboard size parcels of methamphetamine weighing 17.500 kilogrammes and three parcels of cocaine weighing 3.05 kilogrammes.

He revealed that the 38-year-old suspect was coming from Johannesburg, South Africa via Addis Ababa, Ethiopia on Ethiopian Airlines flight when he was interdicted and subjected to a search during which the illicit drugs concealed in bedsheets packed in his bags were discovered.

He noted that another passenger on board the same Ethiopian Airlines flight, 54-year-old Azu Kpodar was also intercepted at the Enugu airport by NDLEA operatives. When Azu, who arrived from Sao Paulo, Brazil, was searched, a liquid soap plastic container marked YPE, was discovered in his luggage. The substance was promptly taken for analysis at the NDLEA forensic and chemical laboratory, Enugu where the substance tested positive to cocaine.

The substance which turned out to be liquid cocaine weighed 1.250 kilogrammes, the
suspect who is a toy seller in Brinquedo, Sao Paulo, Brazil, claimed he purchased while shopping for his wedding ceremony in Nigeria.

NDLEA operatives at the Seme border area of Badagry in Lagos last Tuesday intercepted a 26-year-old Beninese Vode Jean-Luck while trying to smuggle 69 balls of skunk, a strain of cannabis with a gross weight of 29.5 kilogrammes from Benin Republic into Nigeria.

In Kwara state, a notorious drug dealer Mary Oladele (a.k.a Iya Nafi) was arrested last Wednesday when NDLEA operatives raided her base in Omu-Aran in Irepodun local government area of the state where various quantities of skunk, tramadol and flunitrazepam were recovered from her.

Babafemi said a 72-year-old grandma Mrs. Christy Ejaro was last Tuesday arrested by NDLEA operatives at Niger CAT area of Warri, Delta state, with several sachets of skunk packaged in retail size recovered from her.

The spokesman said the War Against Drug Abuse, WADA, social advocacy activities by NDLEA commands equally continued across the country in the past week.

Meanwhile, the Chairman/Chief Executive Officer of NDLEA, Brig. Gen. Buba Marwa (Rtd), while commending the officers and men of MMIA, AIIA, Delta, Kwara, and Seme commands of the agency for the arrests and seizures of the past week, equally praised their counterparts in all the commands across the country for ensuring a fair balance between their drug supply reduction and drug demand reduction efforts.

Former Footballer, 4 Others Arrested, Over 22.6kg Cocaine, Meth Seized at Lagos, Enugu Airports

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Armed bandits abduct resident in Bature Daji, in Niger narrowly miss vigilante target

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Armed bandits abduct resident in Bature Daji, in Niger narrowly miss vigilante target

By: Zagazola Makama

Armed bandits in large numbers stormed Bature Daji community in Niger in the early hours of Saturday, abducting a resident while narrowly missing their original target, a local vigilante member.

Zagazola Makama gathered that the incident occurred around 5:30 a.m. when the attackers invaded the residence of one Dani, a known vigilante operative in the area. He was reportedly the primary target of the assault but managed to escape.

However, the gunmen kidnapped one Attahiru Ibrahim, popularly known as Sarki Daji, from the same neighborhood and whisked him away to an unknown destination.

Local sources revealed that the assailants later moved toward Gorogawu Village, a border community near the Republic of Benin, raising concerns of cross-border movement and security challenges.

A joint team of security forces, including military and other operatives, has launched a pursuit operation to rescue the victim and apprehend the attackers.

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